Railway car axle bearing block centering and alining device or gage



Jan. 14, 1958 P. c. THOMAS ETAL 2,819,536

RAILWAY CAR AXLE BEARING BLOCK CENTERING AND ALINING DEVICE OR GAGE Filed Feb. 16, 1955- INVENTOBS Peter C Thom as John .C. Horsf ATTORNjYS United States Patent RAILWAY CAR 'AXLE BEARING BLOCK CEN- TERING AND AIJNING DEVICE R GAGE Peter C. Thomas, Denver, and John C. Horst, Adams County, Colo., assignors to The Thomas Equipment Co., Denver, Colo., a corporation of Colorado Application February 16, 1955, Serial No. 488,645

2 'Claims. (Cl. 33-185) Our present invention relates to a railway car axle bearing block centering and alining device or gauge. It has to do particularly, although not exclusively, with a portable device or gauge for use in centering or accurately positioning and alining a bearing block, such as one which has been removed from a railway car axle assembly, in a machine for dressing down, shaping, or contouring the babbitt of the block to properly fit a previously measured or calipered axle. The present invention and application constitute a division and continuationin-part of our copending application, Serial No. 419,974 filed March 31, 1954, the device of the instant invention being particularly well adapted for use with the shaping or contouring machine of said copending application.

The device of the present invention is an important adjunct to the machine of the above-noted 'copending application and is precision built to provide for the accurate positioning of a bearing block with relation to the table and cutter head of said machine. The device may be used, however, with other machines than that embodied in said copending application, as well as for other purposes.

As is well known, in railway rolling stock due to extremely hard service, the axles wear very rapidly. As a result, thoseaxles must be turned frequently to renew the surface. It is also known that the usual five inch diameter railway axle can be worn and refinished only until the diameter of that axle is reduced to approximately four and one-half inches. Since the usual hearing blocks or brasses have a Babbitt friction surface or section and are made to fit a five inch diameter'a'xle, it will be apparent that when such abearing block is assembled with an axle having a diameter'whi'ch is less than five inches, the axle and the Babbitt bearing surface of the block will engage only along a narrow line. The result is that the babbitt is subjected to great pressure and in many instances before the ordinary wear of the bearing changes its contour'to conform to that of the axle, it is too late to correct the difiiculty because of the fact that the babbitt, in the meantime, has melted or broken, oftentimes causing the axle to crystallize and break. Large sums of money must be expended annually by the-American railroadsbecause of damage toeqtiipment resulting directly or indirectly from hot boxes on railway rolling stock.

In order to properly dress down, shape, or contour the babbitt of the bearing block so that it will properly 'fit a worn axle, it is first necessary to take the measurement of the worn axle by some suitable caliper like tool. One such tool forms the subject matter of a copending application Serial No. 508,238. After the axle has been calipered, it is, of course, necessary to dress down or contour the 'eabbitt of the bearing block to the diameter of the axle which has justbeen measured or calipered. T 0 do this, the bearing block'must be placed upon the adjustable table of our above-mentioned machine and adjusted accurately both vertically antl horizon'tally with Patented Jan. 14, 1958 relation to thc cutte'rs of the cutter head of the machine. Prior "to the' presentinvention, this would have been an extremely 'cliflicult operation because there was no known device available "to "assist in the proper positioning and adjustment of the block. Thus, the centering device or gauge of ourinstant invention was evolved and perfected.

In an earlier hand-operated boring machine which was presumably designed for dressing down the babbitt lining of a railway car axle block, means were provided for holding ablock to bedressed down upon a vertically adjustable table so that itc'ould be moved into position for the dressing down or cutting action of a hand-op era'ted'cutting tool carried by the boring bar of the machine. No means or device was provided or suggested to permit the accurate setting'or placement of the bearing block in the machine with relation to the cutter and as the result, the dressing or trimming operation had to be'tlone more or less by guess work. Obviously, the operation wasslow and the results were not satisfactory and, therefore, many dressed down bearing blocks were rejected because they would not properly fit the reduced diameter of the axle with which they were intended to be assembled.

Itis, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention to provide means, namely a bearing block centerin'g and "alining device or gauge, which permits even an unskilled workman toproperly contour or dress down the Babbitt lining of a railway car axle bearing block with perfect accuracy.

Another object of our present invention is to provide a device or gauge .as mentioned above which is of relatively'simple structure, made with precision, preferably fromhighgrade steel, and one which is sufficiently rugged to withstand long and hard usage without: showing any appreciable wear.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description and appended claims when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Insaid drawings:

Fig. '1 is a perspective view illustrating the position of the bearing block centering and alining device or gauge with-relation to a bearing block and to a power driven shaft or axle which carries a cutter head and cutters;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3.is a rside elevational view of the gauge or device of Figs. Land 2',

Fig. 4.is-a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a somewhat modified form of bearing block centering and alining device, embodying the invention; and

Fig. 5fis a side elevation of a further modified form of asingle or one-piece bearing block centering and aligning device or member embodying our invention.

Before explaining in detail the present .invention it is to be understood'that the invention is not. limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Itisdo beiunderstood alsothat the phraseology or terminologyemployed herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation.

'With particular reference to the drawing, especially Fig. 1th6re0f,W=h3V shown at 10 a power driven shaft or "axle of the dressing or shaping machine above mentioned, which shaft carries the cutter head and cutters (not shown) whichzfunction to remove theBabbitt lining from the hearing block. The cutter provides a boring tool for the dressing or shaping machine. A typical car axle bearing block is shown at 11 and, it will be understood, that the block has the usual or conventional Babbitt lining, indicated generally at 12. After the bear-. ing block 11 has been removed from the car axle assembly, it is placed on the table of our machine, neither being shown, beneath the shaft or axle 10. At this point, the bearing block centering device or gauge 13 of our invention is placed upon the Babbitt lining 12 of the bearing block, as seen in Fig. l. The centering gauge or device 13 is preferably formed from high speed tool steel and is machined with precision so as to provide for an accurate positioning, adjustment, or placement of the bearing block with the relation to the cutter head and cutters of the machine.

The centering device 13 is provided with a pair of like end plates or members 14, 14 which are interconnected by a pair of spacers or rods 15, 15. The ends of the rods have a machined fit with sockets or openings formed in the end plates so as to provide a rigid and sturdy device. The upper edges or surfaces of the end plates 14 are relatively wide, smooth and concave, as indicated at 16 and terminate at the outer ends in convexly curved upper end portions 17, 17. Each of the end plates 14 has a pair of depending diverging legs 18, 18 whose lower end portions which engage the Babbitt surface of the bearing block are convexly curved at 19. The convexly curved lower end portions 19 of the four spaced legs engage and fit accurately and evenly with the concave curvature of the Babbitt lining 12.

The supporting table (not shown) for the bearing block 11 is now elevated to move the block and the centering gauge 13 upwardly toward the shaft or axle 10. The concave upper edges or surfaces 16 of the end plates come into intimate contact with the shaft or axle 1t). This contact will effect the accurate positioning or locating and thus proper alining of the Babbitt area or surface 12 of the bearing block with the cutter or cutters of the rotatable and traversing cutter head (not shown).

With the bearing block 11 in its proper set position, suitable clamping means (not shown) for holding it in position upon the table, are set or adjusted to clamp the bearing block in its determined correct position for theaccurate turning down or contouring operation which follows. After the bearing block has been securely clamped to hold it in position upon the table, the table is lowered to free the upper surfaces 16 of the gauge from contact with the shaft or axle 10. The gauge is then bodily removed and the table and block are again elevated to the proper position with relation to the shaft 10 as indicated by a suitable gauge (not shown) which forms a part of the machine.

It would be understood that by virtue of the accurately machined precision gauge or locating device it is a very simple matter for anyone to position a bearing block properly for the contouring operation.

One of the important features of our centering device is the fact that the radius of the concave upper edge portions or surfaces 16 and the radius of the convex lower ends or surfaces 19 of the four feet of the device, have a common center in the power driven shaft or axle 10. This permits the accurate or precision positioning and alining of the bearing block with relation to the cutter head and cutters.

The particular design or configuration of the end plates 14- may be varied if desired. Moreover, if desirable, an additional spacer member or members similar to the rods 15, may be employed. The important feature of having the radius of the concave upper edges or surfaces 16 and the convex lower surfaces 19 of the leg members finding a common center in the axle or power driven shaft 10 must, however, be incorporated in any changed design or configuration of members 14.

Fig. 4 shows a slightly modified form of device embodying our invention. In this form each-end member h 14 has a concave upper surface 16 as in the preceding 7 The gauge block 20 is somewhat thicker and larger than each of the end blocks or members 14 of the preceding forms so that it will stand alone and unsupported. In use, two of the blocks 20 are placed in spaced substantially parallel relationship on the Babbitt surface or lining, such as 12 in Fig. 1, the two blocks being entirely separate and independent of each other, as distinguished from being interconnected by a rod or rods, as in the forms of Figs. 1 and 4.

The gauge block 20 has an upper cutter shaft-engaging concave surface 21 corresponding to the surfaces 16 and 16a of Figs. 1 and 4, respectively, which terminates at opposite ends in top horizontal flat edge surfaces 22. The base portion or surface 23 of the block is also flat and horizontal and the end surfaces 25 thereof are likewise flat and diverge from top edges 22 at each side toward convex lower end surfaces or portions 24.

As in the preceding forms, the radius of the concave upper edge 21 and the radius of the convex lower surfaces or portions 24, have a common center in the power driven shaft 10 of Fig. 1. This permits the accurate or precision positioning and alining of the bearing block 11, 12 with relation to the cutter head and cutters. The use of the gauge block 20, that is to say preferably a pair of such blocks, in positioning and alining a bearing to be contoured, is substantially the same as in connection with the devices of Figs. 1 and 4. While we refer to the use of two of the gauge blocks 20 in centering and alining a hearing, it is entirely conceivable that a single block if, perhaps, made thicker from side to side, would do the job satisfactorily.

The dimensions of the gauge block 20 may be varied for use with bearing blocks of different sizes. For example, a larger gauge block 20 would be required to accurately locate a 5 inch bearing block than to locate a 5 inch bearing block. Moreover, a 6 inch bearing block would require the use of a somewhat larger gauge block in the centering and alining operation for contouring purposes.

We claim:

1. A gauge for accurately positioning a railroad axle bearing shell with respect to a cylindrical shaft of a boring tool comprising a body having concave surface of a configuration to accurately engage the cylindrical shaft at axially spaced locations on the shaft at points adjacent the axial ends of the bearing for accurate positioning with respect to the center line of the shaft, and a convex surface concentric with said concave surface, said convex concentric surface of a shape to accurately engage the bearing surface of a bearing shell at least adjacent both its axially spaced ends for accurate positioning with respect to the bearing shell and with respect to the axis of the shaft whereby the boring tool on the shaft may accurately machine a bearing surface on the bearing shell.

' 2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the body comprises axially spaced members adjacent the axial ends of the bearing and means to maintain the members in accurately spaced relation with the concentric surfaces arranged along aligned axes and similarly disposed with respect to such axes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

